The present invention relates generally to diagnostic imaging and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus of dynamically filtering radiation emitted toward a subject during radiographic imaging in a manner tailored to the shape and/or position of a subject to be imaged.
Typically, in radiographic imaging systems, an x-ray source emits x-rays toward a subject or object, such as a patient or a piece of luggage. Hereinafter, the terms “subject” and “object” may be interchangeably used to describe anything capable of being imaged. The beam, after being attenuated by the subject, impinges upon an array of radiation detectors. The intensity of the attenuated beam radiation received at the detector array is typically dependent upon the attenuation of the x-rays. Each detector element of the detector array produces a separate electrical signal indicative of the attenuated beam received by each detector element. The electrical signals are transmitted to a data processing system for analysis which ultimately produces an image.
In computed tomography (CT) imaging systems, the x-ray source and the detector array are rotated about a gantry within an imaging plane and around the subject. X-ray sources typically include x-ray tubes, which emit the x-rays as a beam at a focal point. X-ray detectors typically include a collimator for collimating x-ray beams received at the detector, a scintillator for converting x-rays to light energy adjacent the collimator, and a photodiode for receiving the light energy from an adjacent scintillator and producing electrical signals therefrom. Typically, each scintillator of a scintillator array converts x-rays to light energy. Each photodiode detects the light energy and generates a corresponding electrical signal. The outputs of the photodiodes are then transmitted to the data processing system for image reconstruction.
There is increasingly a need to reduce radiation dosage received by a patient during an imaging session. It is generally well known that significant dose reduction may be achieved by using a “bowtie” filter to shape the intensity profile of an x-ray beam. Surface dose reductions may be as much as 50% using a bowtie filter. It is also generally known that different anatomical regions of a patient may advantageously mandate different shaped bowtie filters to reduce radiation dosage. For example, scanning of the head or a small region of a patient may require a bowtie filter shaped differently than a filter used during a large body scanning session. It is therefore desirable to have an imaging system with a large number of bowtie filter shapes available to best fit each patient. However, fashioning an imaging system with a sufficient number of bowtie filters to accommodate the idiosyncrasies encountered during scanning of numerous patients can be problematic in that each individual patient cannot be contemplated. Additionally, manufacturing an imaging system with a multitude of bowtie filters increases the overall manufacturing cost of the imaging system.
Further, for optimum dose efficiency, i.e. best image quality at the lowest possible dose, the attenuation profile created by the bowtie filter should be particular to the patient. That is, it is desirable and preferred that when selecting a pre-patient filter that the patient's size, shape, and relative position be taken into account. By taking the patient's size, shape, and position into consideration, radiation exposure can be tailored to the specific patient. Further, it is generally well-known that photon counting (PT) and energy discriminating (ED) CT systems are not possible today, primarily because the large dynamic range of photon flux rates exceeds the count rate capabilities of current PT and ED detectors. Tailoring the pre-patient filter to the subject to be scanned also allows for conforming the filter to minimize photon flux rates in a range suitable to permit continued development of PT and ED CT systems. As noted above, the differences in patients in the potential subject pool are significantly large and fitting a CT system with a pre-patient filter for each possible patient profile is more than cost prohibitive; its simply not practical.
Therefore, it would be desirable to design an apparatus and method of dynamically filtering the radiation emitted toward the subject for data acquisition in a manner tailored to particular physical characteristics of the subject. It would be further desirable to have a system that tailors the radiation emitted toward the subject during data acquisition based on a scout scan of the subject.